No fewer than 54 our bodies have been recovered from the boat accident involving about 200 merchants in Kogi State.
The determine was disclosed to our correspondent on Saturday by the Head of Operations masking Kogi State on the Nationwide Emergency Administration Company, Justin Uwazuruonye.
Uwazuruonye stated, “The determine of the recovered our bodies as of as we speak (Saturday), based on the Kogi State Emergency Administration Company, Purple Cross, and NEMA is 54. They have been recovered useless.
“We tried to know if they may make the manifest accessible, however they stated there was no manifest, and if there is no such thing as a manifest, we are able to’t say the precise variety of passengers on the boat. Apart from, it was an evening journey, and none of them had life jackets on.”
The Nationwide Inland Waterways Authority confirmed the boat accident on Friday.
The Head of NIWA’s Media Division, Suleman Makama, acknowledged that the merchants have been touring to a market in Niger State on the boat when it capsized alongside the Dambo-Ebuchi part of the River Niger.
In the meantime, Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, has known as for inter-agency collaboration to forestall waterways accidents.
Ododo, in an announcement by his Particular Adviser on Media, Ismail Isah, expressed disappointment over the accident, saying he was involved that a lot of the victims have been girls, petty merchants, and artisans concerned in legit enterprise actions.
He expressed concern concerning the risks on the waterway linking Kogi with Niger State.
“The waterway linking Kogi and Niger State is turning into more and more harmful because of frequent boat accidents,” he stated.
The governor known as on related authorities to make sure that security measures have been put in place to attenuate dangers related to water transportation within the nation.
“Efforts needs to be made via inter-agency collaboration to forestall additional accidents and coordinate emergency response,” he famous.
Ododo commiserated with the households of these concerned within the accident, promising that the federal government would help these injured of their recuperation.